Tullio Pinelli


Tullio Pinelli was an Italian screenwriter known for his work on the Federico Fellini films I Vitelloni, La Strada, La Dolce Vita and 8½.

Biography

Born in Turin, Pinelli began his career as a civil lawyer but spent his free time working in the theatre as a playwright. He was descended from a long line of Italian patriots; his great-uncle General Ferdinando Pinelli quashed the bandit revolt in Calabria following Italian unification.
He met Fellini in a Rome kiosk in 1946 while they were reading opposite pages of the same newspaper. "Meeting each other", explained Pinelli, "was a creative lightning bolt. We spoke the same language from the start... We were fantasizing about a screenplay that would be the exact opposite of what was fashionable then: the story of a very shy and modest office worker who discovered he can fly; so he flaps his arms and escapes out the window. It certainly wasn't Italian neorealism. But the idea never went anywhere either." The anecdote about flying presages the opening scene of 8½ in which the protagonist, a prominent film director, who dreams of escape by flying out of his car caught in a traffic jam.
Pinelli died at the age of 100 on 7 March 2009 in Rome. He was married to the French-born actress Madeleine Lebeau, who had roles in 8½ and Casablanca.

Selected filmography

  • His Young Wife
  • The Adulteress
  • The Bandit
  • Bullet for Stefano
  • The Opium Den
  • L'amore
  • Without Pity
  • The Earth Cries Out
  • In the Name of the Law
  • The Mill on the Po
  • Path of Hope
  • Variety Lights
  • Four Ways Out
  • Cameriera bella presenza offresi...
  • The Bandit of Tacca Del Lupo
  • The White Sheik
  • Pietà per chi cade
  • I Vitelloni
  • Love in the City
  • Symphony of Love
  • The Lovers of Manon Lescaut
  • La Strada
  • Il bidone
  • The Wolves
  • Nights of Cabiria
  • Fortunella,
  • Herod the Great
  • La Dolce Vita
  • Adua and Her Friends
  • Boccaccio '70
  • Careless
  • The Steppe
  • 8½
  • The Three Faces
  • The Gaucho
  • Juliet of the Spirits
  • Francesco di Assisi
  • The Climax
  • Check to the Queen
  • Galileo
  • Sweet Charity
  • Serafino
  • How, When and with Whom
  • Help Me, My Love
  • A Pocketful of Chestnuts
  • The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
  • Alfredo Alfredo
  • Amore e ginnastica
  • My Friends
  • Down the Ancient Staircase
  • Lovers and Liars
  • Il Marchese del Grillo
  • All My Friends Part 2
  • Amici miei - Atto III
  • Ginger and Fred
  • Let's Hope It's a Girl
  • Mano rubata
  • ''The Voice of the Moon''